At least 10 applicants for superintendent position

January 7, 2013

SARANAC LAKE - At least 10 people have applied to be the next superintendent of the Saranac Lake Central School District, with more applications expected before the Jan. 11 application deadline.

School board President Debra Lennon gave an update on the superintendent search at Wednesday's board meeting. She said she had spoken earlier in the day with Franklin-Essex-Hamilton Board of Cooperative Educational Services Superintendent Steven Shafer, who's assisting the board in the search.

"He informed me that we've had a flurry of activity," Lennon said. "We have 10 completed applications and 16 semi-complete or letters of interest and partial applications. We've had quite a bit of progress from our three to where we are now. We're in a very good place right now. It's very encouraging."

Applications for the job were initially slow to come in. By mid-December, only one person had applied, although school officials and Shafer said at the time that they expected the pace to pick up as the deadline approaches.

The district is looking for a new superintendent to replace Gerald Goldman, who will retire in at the end of the current school year.

Noting that the district has seen several out-of-state candidates, Lennon said Wednesday that Shafer is contacting each applicant to ask what prompted their interest in the position. He plans to deliver a summary of each of the candidates at the board's Jan. 24 meeting, when the applications will be reviewed by a committee of board members, district staff and local residents.

"The meeting on the 24th is to determine who we interview," Lennon said.

In discussing what district staff to ask to be on the committee, the board agreed to contact representatives of each of the district's unions and have them submit names of people who might be interested.